(New York) Western stock markets ended in the green on Wednesday despite a further decline in the euro and oil, thanks to a technical rebound in Europe and a boost from the Fed on Wall Street.
Updated yesterday at 5:23 p.m.
The financial centers of Europe have compensated for part of the heavy losses of Tuesday, which had reached nearly 3%: Paris took over 2.03%, Frankfurt 1.56%, Milan 1.04%. London followed suit (+1.17%), despite political instability in the United Kingdom, with the resignation of several members of Boris Johnson’s government.
In New York, the Dow Jones gained 0.23%, the tech-heavy NASDAQ index 0.35% and the broader S&P 500 index 0.36% after another volatile session. , which saw the indices turn around in the early afternoon.
These strong variations in Europe as in the United States, “say well the fierce struggle” between investors who lean towards the thesis of a recession and those who believe more in a gradual slowdown in the economy, according to Art Hogan, of National Securities.
Growth in activity in services continued to slow in June in the United States, for the third month in a row, but less than expected, according to the barometer of the professional federation ISM published on Wednesday.
Many investors fear a recession in the United States and Europe, caused by inflation and the restrictive monetary policies of Western central banks to combat it.
On Wall Street, the market, which has been trading in a tight range all day, “took from negative to positive just as the minutes came out this afternoon,” Jack Ablin of Cresset Capital said. of the minutes of the last meeting of the Fed’s Monetary Policy Committee.
“The Fed took advantage of the June meeting to remove all doubts about its willingness to do what is necessary to stabilize prices,” commented Jamie Cox of Harris Financiel Group.
In the minutes, the members of the Committee consider it “appropriate” to proceed with further rate hikes after the one in June and accept the idea that the tightening cycle should affect the job market.
The US central bank “kept a hard line and the market likes that,” explained Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital.
If the rise in interest rates is often unfavorable to the equity markets, in particular at the current rate, the curbing of inflation would be a support factor for Wall Street.
Fears are currently focused on the European economy: the euro fell below $1.02 for the first time since December 2002. Around 9 p.m. GMT, it was trading at $1.0187, down 0.82%.
On the currency side too, bitcoin lost 0.37%, just above the $20,000 threshold, at $20,398.
European gas remains tight, oil unscrews
Factor weakening growth in Europe, the price of natural gas continued to rise on Wednesday, after having soared in recent days. The benchmark contract for natural gas, the TTF listed in the Netherlands, gained 5.86% to 175.60 euros per megawatt hour.
Fears about global growth weighed on oil prices. They chained a second day of sharp decline in a row, the rebound attempted at the start of the session having been reversed.
A barrel of Brent crude from the North Sea, for September delivery, fell 2.02% to settle at $100.69, after slipping below the symbolic bar of $100 a barrel in the session for the first time since april.
The barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery in August, fell 0.97%, settling below 100 dollars since the day before, at 98.53 dollars.
EDF renationalized
The French state intends to renationalize the energy company EDF 100%, announced Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne in her general policy statement. The action took 14.53%, while it was down 5% in the early afternoon, before the speech.
In Germany, the share price of the energy company Uniper (-2.93%) fell again, while Berlin adopted this week a device allowing entry into the capital of the energy group in great difficulty due to the crisis of the gas.
Just Eat agrees with Amazon
The meal delivery specialist Just Eat Takeaway soared 15.46% after announcing that it had signed a commercial partnership with Amazon (-0.65%), which will take a stake in Grubhub, the group’s American subsidiary. Anglo-Dutch. In the same sector in London, Deliveroo also took 4.16%.
In the United States, Grubhub’s competitors, DoorDash (-7.40%), and Uber (-4.53%), the latter also present in this market via Uber Eats, took the announcement badly.
Chinese values weakened by the reconfinement
Chinese stocks faltered after the re-lockdown of several million people in China on Wednesday due to an epidemic rebound. The online sales platforms Alibaba (-0.84%), JD.com (-4.59%) or Pinduoduo (-7.40%) all suffered a marked decline.
Earlier in the day, Asian markets had fallen sharply, notably Shanghai (-1.43%).